From the Haunted Stacks: 2024 Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ Wrap Up

Kiste, the only woman nominee in the category, walked away with the haunted house statue for this riveting, deeply unsettling, and thought-provoking story.

20 years ago, a single block, deep in the suburbs, slipped into its own dimension, locked behind an inaccessible veil. Everyone was lost, save for three girls who returned to college the night before.

Talitha, now 40, still carries her trauma from that day; however, when a paranormal researcher entices her back to try to make contact with her little sister, Talitha stops running from Brett, Grace, and their shared past in order to finally move forward and allow the ghosts to rest.

This is an atmospheric, character-centered story exposing the dark underbelly of suburban malaise, encrusting it with monsters both real and supernatural.

It's also an ode to the forgotten women, who are powerful enough to save themselves and even the world, especially if they band together and let love pull them through.

Fellow nominee in this category, Iglesias’ novel also explores the trauma from a world-altering event occurring during the characters’ late teen years, in this case, a murder paired with Hurricane Maria.

As the hurricane is bearing down on Puerto Rico, Bimbo/s mother is gunned down at work.

Best friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, and Paul join Bimbo in his quest for revenge, attempting to take out the biggest drug lord on the island under the cover of the storm’s aftermath. Gabe’s engaging narration will hook readers.

He is honest and conflicted, but bursting with love despite the real-life horrors that surround him. Intricately plotted, with a strong sense of place, told with awe-inspiringly lyrical language and brutal violence, this is a remarkable novel that beams its hope into the darkness.

Suburban-focused horror is nothing new, but like Kiste, Langan gives it a whole new terrifying twist. This time, instead of a part of the neighborhood being pushed into another dimension, there is a sinkhole and accusations of murder.

Welcome to Maple Street, an idyllic community on Long Island. Meet two unlikely best friends: a former beauty pageant queen, wife of a has-been rocker, and her neighbor, the community’s Miss Perfect, a community college professor with a hidden dark past.

After one too many backyard drinks, things turn dark. Very dark.

This horror-thriller hybrid will keep readers flipping the pages, filled with shock, while also examining their own life choices.

Kim has burst onto the psychological horror scene with an expertly constructed, visceral debut introducing an unforgettable protagonist.

Ji-Won is a first-generation Korean-American, a college student who is sick of the fetishization of Asian women and wants to do something about it. She confidently leads readers through this expertly constructed story, earning sympathy even as readers begin to see they should not trust her. 

As the novel evolves from domestic drama to one filled with oppressive dread, the palpable anxiety evolves into repulsion, and Ji-Won dares readers to avert their own eyes. 

Keifer’s debut, also nominated in this category, is equally deserving of accolades and critical acclaim.

March 2019, four 20-somethings enter the Kentucky woods on a mission to study and scale a never-before-seen rock formation, except, readers are told immediately, none of them made it out alive.

The story is told from the point of view of each doomed character, and with time frames alternating between the story’s present, and the past, beginning in the 1700s when this land was first discovered.

Kiefer masterfully crafts both vivid characters and a visceral place, a land rooted in evil, with a long history of a thirst for human blood. 

Leede may have been nominated for a Stoker Award last year, but her protagonist and Kim’s share a scary lot in common.

Maeve spends her days performing as the famous ice princess at “the happiest place on earth,” while her nights are spent brazenly murdering people and hiding her crimes in plain sight.

But when Maeve meets her best friend’s gorgeous brother, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself. 

Unapologetically dripping with graphic sex and violence, Leede is actively working every angle in an attempt to disgust and disturb her readers, balancing extreme scenes with dark humor and Maeve’s engaging narration.

As sympathy builds for Maeve, readers will squirm even more, realizing just how much they are enjoying this illicitly alluring tale.

Ajram became the first trans man to win a Stoker with this tale that is as brutal as it is beautiful. Vicken is on the Montreal subway with plans to get off at the last stop and throw himself in the river, ending his life.

However, upon exiting the train, he finds himself trapped in a never-ending labyrinth of corridors. As Vicken continues to wander, Ajram cleverly transforms what seems like a deceptively simple plot into a complex, moving, and immersive contemplation of the very real horror of living with severe depression.

Readers need to prepare to become emotionally invested in this one.

A musician stops at a Pennsylvania gas station to use the bathroom, in the middle of the night, and gets trapped. The horrors come from the unseen assailant outside the room and the nightmares held within.

This novella will hold you hostage and make you forever fear things you never thought to be scared of before.

Yes, this is an intense, single-sitting read about a man trapped in a disgusting place, either for real or by his mind (does it matter?), but it is also a thought provoking tale about generational trauma.

Fair warning: you may never stop on a road trip ever again if you choose to read this one.

Glenn’s son Billy died 40 years ago, at the age of 15, the victim of a brutal murder. The case was never solved, and Glenn’s grief has not ebbed at all.

Glenn signs up for a writing class at the local library. Hoping to work through his pain and turn it into a book, but will that lead him even further into despair?

An unflinching tale of grief, pain, and obsession, that will leave readers gasping for air.

This expertly edited, feminist anthology features five critically acclaimed horror short story writers—Lee Murray, Cindy O’Quinn, Kyla Lee Ward, Anna Taborska, and Carol Gyzander—presenting 15 interlaced stories.

Each section opens with a poem that bemoans the way society treats women. Then the authors work together to tackle the common theme: How can women fight back against the patriarchy in general, and, rape in particular?

Original, angry, and violent, the stories range in theme from dark humor to extreme discomfort.

It all makes for an immersive and unique reading experience that will empower readers of all gender identities who encounter it.

In this empowering and celebratory cross-genre anthology, written for a teen audience, top trans and queer YA authors contemplate what it means for society to see you as a monster by offering new takes on established monster tropes.

Because this is categorized as a YA title, none of the “horror” elements are overwhelming, but the real-life terror and fear comes across all too real because it is! 

Similarly to Discontinue If Death Ensues, Ryan explores the experiences of women, by women, but her focus is on the complexity that is motherhood.

From mothers who are literal monsters to those who smother, from abusive mothers to those who haunt their children, this is a dark anthology, but one that will resonate with any reader who has had a mother or been one themselves.

Bonus, the table of contents is filled with names readers know (including novel winner, Kiste), and yet still leaves plenty of room to discover new favorites. 

Yardley’s collection features 17 stories that span from disturbing to heartwarming with every emotion in between, all in strikingly lyrical prose.

Focused mainly on women, Yardley focuses on relatable situations but adds a bit of the surreal, a dash of the dangerous, and a whole lot of dark emotions, all of which work to draw the readers into her stories.

Whether the characters are visiting a crematorium, building a lover from scavenged parts, or organizing their life by the ticking of a clock, this remarkable collection will get under readers’ skin and burrow deep into their souls.

Sylvanie’s debut story collection was also up for the Stoker this year, and as the title makes clear, it contains 17 stories where girls are lost.

Some live and others do not, but it is in how Sylvaine gets us through each tale that we readers will understand why it was nominated.

Settings such as an earthquake’s epicenter, a roller coaster accident, a Victorian Gothic, even a library, all set the stage for imaginative, heart-wrenching, and traumatic stories that allow readers to experience a bevy of dark emotions.

Argentina’s most popular and critically acclaimed horror author, Enriquez, presents 12 imaginative, lyrical, and frightening stories, each of which will hold readers rapt for their duration before they eagerly dive into the next, not knowing what to expect and loving every second of it.

Like Yarley and Sylvanine, women tend to be the focus here, ordinary women who encounter ghosts, find a water tank populated by birds who used to be women, or find a family whose faces melt away.

The surreal and our contemporary world overlap, and the results are deeply unsettling and extremely thought-provoking.